Lanchester Wins acquires luxury confectionery firm

The Wetherby business provides luxury sweets and chocolates to high end independent retailers and visitor attractions. It will now form part of Lanchester Wines’ gifting division, Lancester Gifts.

Bon Bon’s will continue to operate as a stand-alone business under its existing brand. Directors Mark Rowntree and Peter Julian continuing to manage the team.

Lanchester Wine Cellars was established in 1980 by Tony and Veronica Cleary, and continues to be run by the family.

Mr Cleary said:

We see the acquisition of Bon Bon’s a natural progression for our business, allowing us to reach new markets and extend our product offering. Mark and Peter have established a solid, successful business and we have every intention of working with them closely to grow even stronger.

We cut our teeth in the wine business nearly 40 years ago. In 2007 we diversified into gifting, starting with wine gifts and hampers, and now Lanchester Gifts is one of the largest businesses of its kind in the UK supplying a large section of the retail industry with own label gift products.

Through Bon Bon’s we’ll have direct access to luxury confectionery and chocolate to use within Lanchester Gifts’ products, enhancing both our offering and our ranges. In turn, this will extend the reach of Bon Bon’s products to new customers and drive sales. We see this acquisition as a natural progression for both brands and are looking forward to growing both businesses.

Lanchester Wines has acquired luxury sweets business Bon Bon's

9:15Jonathon Manning

Snapchat adds 7m users but revenue falls below expectations

Technology Correspondent Photo app Snapchat added 7m new users in the last three months, the company’s latest financial results revealed.

However, parent company Snap Inc fell short of analysts’ expectations with revenue for the quarter of $181.7m (£140m), well below the $189m (£145m) predicted.

Snapchat’s daily active users rose to 173m, compared to the 166m reported in the last quarter, but continues to trail many of its rivals.

Snap Inc has suffered from falling stock prices since floating on the US stock market earlier this year. Some of this fall has been driven by pressure from Facebook’s family of apps - including Instagram - which have successfully introduced features similar to Snapchat in order to entice users to their services.

Since introducing a Stories feature similar to that of Snapchat, Instagram has seen daily use of the feature rise to more than 250m, eclipsing Snapchat’s entire user base.

Stories enable users to capture and share a montage of photos and videos over a 24-hour period that appear to friends in chronological order. However, Snapchat’s user growth for the quarter was up 21% on the same period last year.

Earlier this year, Snap Inc released its first hardware product in the UK - video camera enabled sunglasses called Spectacles, which the tech giant sells via colourful vending machines called Snapbots.

The logo of mobile app "Snapchat" is displayed on a tablet (Image: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)

09:10KEY EVENT

Supermarkets bin egg products amid European contamination scare

Four supermarkets have taken products off their shelves in the wake of the egg contamination scare - as the Food Standards Agency says the scale of the problem is higher than previously thought.Around 700,000 eggs from Dutch farms implicated in the Fipronil contamination scare have been distributed to Britain, rather than the 21,000 first estimated, the watchdog said.In response, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose and Asda have withdrawn a total of 11 products - including sandwiches, sandwich fillers and salads - from sale.The FSA said investigations into the incident suggested it was “very unlikely” that the eggs posed a risk to public health as it released a list of processed products withdrawn in the UK “to ensure that consumers are protected”.The move came as Dutch investigators detained two men suspected of being involved in the illegal use of the pesticide at poultry farms.Potentially contaminated eggs have cropped up in Luxembourg, Denmark and Romania, with the Veterinary Health Authority in Bucharest saying it discovered 1,000 kilograms of eggs before they reached supermarket shelves.The FSA said all products withdrawn in the UK were processed foods in which egg was one ingredient among many others, mostly used in sandwich fillings or other chilled foods.It said some of the products made from these eggs would have already been consumed, but some were still within the expiry date and were being withdrawn by the businesses involved.Many of the eggs were mixed with others which had not come from affected farms so Fipronil residues would be highly diluted, it added.FSA chairwoman Heather Hancock said:

I’m confident that acting quickly is the right thing to do.

The number of eggs involved is small in proportion to the number of eggs we eat, and it is very unlikely that there is a risk to public health.

Based on the available evidence there is no need for people to change the way they consume or cook eggs. However, Fipronil is not legally allowed for use near food-producing animals and it shouldn’t be there.

The FSA said it had no evidence that eggs laid in the UK were contaminated or that Fipronil had been used inappropriately here, and testing results to date for England and Wales showed no exposure to the pesticide.British egg processors have criticised the buying policies of the UK’s major supermarkets after the FSA released the list of withdrawn products.British Lion Egg Processors chairman Ian Jones said:

The major retailers are operating to double standards when it comes to eggs. All of them stock British Lion shell eggs but they use imported eggs in many of their other foods containing eggs.

This is just the latest of a number of food safety issues connected to eggs produced outside of the UK in recent years. Consumers clearly want retailers and food manufacturers to use good-quality British ingredients that are produced to high standards of food safety, but in some prepared foods this is not the case

Around 700,000 eggs from Dutch farms implicated in a contamination scare have been distributed to Britain, rather than the 21,000 first estimated, the Food Standards Agency has said (Image: PA)

9:05Jonathon Manning

Old Mutual making 'excellent progress' on business split as profits soar 37%

Old Mutual has reported a rise in half-year profits and said it is on course to split the firm into four by next year.

The FTSE 100 firm announced in March last year that it would run its US-based asset management operation, its UK-based wealth unit, an emerging markets division and Nedbank in South Africa as separate businesses.

On Friday, chief executive Bruce Hemphill said Old Mutual is making “excellent progress” in the break-up as he celebrated a 37% rise in adjusted operating profit to £969m.

He added:

We are making excellent progress in delivering the managed separation of Old Mutual, having materially reduced debt and largely disposed of our stake in OM Asset Management.

Our focus for the next phase of managed separation is first to finalise the appropriate standalone balance sheets for our two unlisted businesses, and second, subject to the necessary approvals, deliver them to our shareholders at the earliest opportunity in 2018 after our 2017 full-year results.

The group said it will list its UK-based wealth unit and its South African unit next year. Its stake in US Old Mutual Asset Management will be reduced to 5.5%, the firm added.

A pile of ten pound notes (Image: Surrey Advertiser)

9:00Jonathon Manning

Durham eye specialist invents new tech to help children with Down's Syndrome

A Durham optometrist is on the hunt for a production partner after inventing a new device for taking accurate eye measurements of children with Down’s Syndrome.

Family optometrist Simon Berry has developed a new piece of equipment to help take eye measurements for those who are unable to focus on objects up close.

The condition, known as accommodative lag, is more common in children with Down’s Syndrome, who often find it hard to concentrate on a target for a long period of time. This makes it difficult to issue children with the right prescription for their glasses.

But Mr Berry, who also works at Sunderland Eye Infirmary as a specialist optometrist, has invented a new piece of equipment to fix the problem.

The new equipment uses mirrors and glass to act as a mini cinema screen, allowing the child to look at familiar pictures, such a TV characters, pictures of pets, or any other image or video that will hold their attention long enough to get an accurate measurement.

A prototype was developed with the help of Durham University’s physics and engineering departments, along with final year engineering students Matt Grozier and Fred Noble. The team used 3D printing technology to produce the prototype in just two weeks.

Mr Berry said:

Matt and Fred were quick to understand and address the issues involved, and used the University’s world-class facilities and the expert knowledge of colleagues in the physics and engineering departments to produce the prototype in a very short time span.

Proton Power Systems announces major management shakeup

Green energy specialist Proton Power system has revealed its chairman and company secretary Ian Peden has stepped down from the role amid a major senior management shakeup.

Mr Peden has held his chairman position since 2015 but stepped down from his position yesterday. He continues to work as a non-executive director.

He has been replaced by fellow non-executive director Achim Loecher.

The Newcastle-founded firm specialises in fuel cells and systems that can be used in electric buses, light and heavy duty vehicles, boats and buildings, producing anything from 3kW to peak power of 30kW.

Proton has also brought in Roman Kotlarzewski as group finance director.

Mr Kotlarzewski has over 30 years’ experience in finance and accounting, having held leadership roles in start-ups and quoted UK, Germand and US companies.Currently he holds directorships at ConFin Interim Management Ltd, the Globe Business College Munich, and telecoms firm Manning Global AG.

Commenting on the changes, Faiz Nahab, CEO of Proton, said:

The Board of Proton would like to thank Ian for his efforts and commitment to the Company as Chairman and look forward to continue working with him in the future.

We are pleased to welcome Roman Kotlarzewski as our new Group Finance Director. His experience in various financial roles will be a valuable addition to the Board.

Nationwide saw profits tumble in the first quarter as it braces for a period of potential “prolonged economic uncertainty” and amid a retreat from the buy-to-let market.The building society said underlying pre-tax profits in the three months to June 30 dropped 18% to £301m.Statutory pre-tax profits fell from £401m to £322m in the period.It put the decline down to a non-recurring £100m gain in the first quarter of last year, and chief executive Joe Garner said profit remained in its “target range”.The figures also show that gross mortgage lending fell from £8.6bn to £8.1bn in the period, while net mortgage lending decreased to £2.4bn from £3.5bn.Nationwide put this down to a “reduction in buy-to-let advances” as a result of the increase in stamp duty for such properties that came in last year, and changes to its lending criteria.Mr Garner warned that while the building society’s research shows that consumers expect Brexit to leave their ability to access credit unchanged, there were choppy waters ahead.

He said:

It will be important for lenders to balance carefully credit supply with affordability as we seek to support the long-term interests of consumers in a responsible way through any potential economic slowdown ahead.

In a period of potentially prolonged economic uncertainty and persistently low interest rates, Nationwide continues to invest in products and services to support the long-term needs of our members.

The founders of Noveltea are looking to raise the sum to sell the drinks overseas, following early success for the fledgling firm.

Former Newcastle University students Vincent Efferoth and Lukas Passia both originally come from Germany, but settled in the North East to launch Noveltea, after being set on their business path by the British fascination for craft beers, spirits and afternoon tea traditions.

NovelTea sells a range of boozy afternoon teas that are infused with gin or rum and the firm has achieved great success locally after it was stocked in Newcastle’s Fenwick Food Hall – and the afternoon tipple has now made its way to London after hitting Harrods’ shelves.

Noveltea has also struck a dea l with John Lewis that will see its drinks stocked in 12 stores across the country from this weekend.

Mr Efferoth said:

Obviously Harrods is world famous and it means a lot for us at Noveltea to be recognised as a high premium product.

We were in London last week and it was just an amazing experience. We were there doing customer sampling, and it was great to see how well Noveltea is being received.

Following on from the their company’s growing success in the UK, the duo are now looking to raise the six-figure sum to drive oversea sales and further promote the business.

Mr Efferoth added:

We are looking to raise £120,000 and the aim is to extend our team to reinforce our marketing activities, in a cost efficient way, and to meet our working capital requirements. We now have bigger accounts and we need to have the financial resources to deliver.

We want the financial resources to develop Noveltea as an international brand. We are preparing for exporting opportunities.

The campaign is taking place on crowdfunding site Crowdcube and is now under way.

FTSE and pound update

The pound at 8am was 1.2980 dollars compared to 1.2977 dollars at the previous close.

The euro at 8am was 0.9058 pounds compared to 0.9050 pounds at the previous close.

8:35KEY EVENT

Domino's pizza to grab large slice of business with new London deal

Domino’s Pizza has inked a partnership with its London franchise business that will see it chomp down on a 75% stake in a new company.The group said it will pay £24 million for the stake in the firm, which will consist of 25 existing Domino’s stores in the capital.The firm said:

The creation of the partnership will enable Domino’s Pizza Group to take advantage of the significant growth opportunity in the London area.